Anyone can sell nutritional supplements, and many do. However, what would you think would happen to a company that stripped everything away to focus on selling magnesium supplements?

Magnesium — not something you hear about everyday, huh? It’s not really the product with the most “sex appeal.” As Patrick Sullivan, co-founder of Jigsaw Health which focuses on selling these wonderful magnesium supplements, explains:

“Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body. It works in tandem with calcium — calcium…

...continue to read "Increase Your Search Rankings by Shrinking Your Offering"

Perhaps I haven’t had enough coffee this morning…you know us Seattleites…

But I just felt I had to call out an example of how poor copywriting and writing for search engine robots can ruin a decent Unique Value Proposition.

I was referred to a site to look at their homepage design (see screenshot, highlighting is mine), and immediately noticed that they had a prominent Unique Value Proposition (UVP) statement, which was promising.

The UVP statement wasn’t the best I’ve read, but at least it…

...continue to read "When We-We and SEO Copy Attack"

We marketers are very busy people. In today’s challenging economy, with its rapid digital pace and customers empowered like never before, the demands are never-ending. So, we love things that make our job easier. Or at least appear to.

The Words ‘Marketing Automation’ are Like Music To Our Ears

According to one definition:

Marketing automation is the use of software to automate marketing processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration (CDI), and campaign management. The use of marketing automation makes processes…

...continue to read "Beware Marketing Automation Without Data Clarification"

Most companies measure keyword performance – and especially PPC keyword performance – based on one factor: did that word or phrase bring converting visitors to the site on the visit in which they converted.

So the natural thing to do is trim non-performing words and phrases in order to increase the efficiency of your PPC spend.  And that’s exactly what one client did, except rather than increasing his efficiency, he dropped his sales by 30%.

Why?

Because, depending on what you…

...continue to read "Are Your Analytics Causing You to Lose 30% of Your Sales?"

SEO Blogger Lisa Barone recently posted “Google Openly Profiles SEOs As Criminals” and for many who do not follow the industry so closely, the main point of this post may be missed. What is the point?

Don’t do Search Engine Optimization!

At SMX last week Google’s Matt Cutts, basically explained that “Google does profile SEOs. They’re identified as “high risk” and so are all of their associated projects.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Matt’s comments are a pre-cursor of Google cleaning up…

...continue to read "Will Google Judge You Guilty of SEO?"

Kudos to Omniture for posting “Survey: Search Marketers Underutilizing Sophisticated Metrics.” It takes guts to stop applauding customers and share some tough love.

According to the Omniture survey:

Marketers picked cost per click and click through rate as among their top metrics to optimize search campaigns instead of deeper metrics such as return on ad spend, cost per customer (or sale) or profit per order 43 percent of e-commerce respondents do not know how to accurately measure profit per customer (or order)…

...continue to read "Dirty Diapers, Shame and Web Analytics"

Rebecca Lieb knows about creating content that engages visitors. There are few people I respect in the industry the way I do Rebecca. She was the VP and Editor-in-Chief at the ClickZ Network (editing hundreds of my column) and Search Engine Watch for over 7 years. As a journalist, Rebecca has written on media for numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and spent five years as Variety’s Berlin-based German/Eastern European bureau chief. Until recently, she was…

...continue to read "The Truth About Search Engine Optimization: An Interview with Rebecca Lieb"

One of the great things about testing and optimization is that you can use it to challenge assumptions and keep your site design’s effectiveness up-to-date.  No website element, no matter how pretty and well-designed, should be excused from an occasional test to make sure it’s giving you ROI.

In our fast-moving industry, what gave ROI six months ago might not today.

Take, for example, the design pattern I like to call the “SEO Footer.”  This design element takes many forms,…

...continue to read "Free Optimization Test Recommendation: The SEO Footer"

My grandma used to tell us that she was too poor to buy cheap.

Tom Crandall in his iMediaConnection SEO column explains “why the traditional thinking on ‘cheap’ no longer applies”. I think he’s right for several business categories but not all.

Our new service OnTarget is by far the least expensive and most effective proven system for companies to continually improve their conversion rates.

So why don’t we just call OnTarget cheap?

Hmmm… The answer is simple.

We never want the type of client who is…

...continue to read "The Value of Cheap"

Every visitor comes to your site in their own personal “buying stage.”  The buying stage is a wide spectrum, but we generally break it into Early, Middle, and Late stages:

Early means that the visitor has a problem, and is looking for a solution.  They may not know who you are, or that your product/service solves their problem. Middle means that they have an intention to buy a product or service that solves their problem, but not necessarily from you. Late means…

...continue to read "The Diagnosis? Buying Stage Schizophrenia"